No warrant for Cebu’s most wanted

The man long touted by police as Cebu City’s most wanted person for being one of the region’s biggest drug dealers is still without a warrant for his arrest nearly a year after millions of pesos worth of illegal drugs were confiscated from a high-walled compound believed to be owned by him while he swiftly managed to evade arrest.

Technically speaking, without that warrant and even as his wild drug reputation precedes him, Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz can freely roam the streets of Cebu City where he is supposedly most wanted.

In fact, Diaz showed up at an undisclosed place last Sunday to be interviewed by radio station dyRF on his plans to live a new drug-free life while he asked people to forgive him for his faults which he said were prompted by no other than a life of poverty.

Diaz expressed his willingness to surrender to President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and help authorities arrest other drug personalities.

But mere talk is cheap.

“We are not joking here. We wont accept shallow talks here. He has to show me an affidavit, narrating all his sins. If he comes to me with all those talks, I’d rather not see him,” Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Patrocinio Comendador Jr. said of Cebu’s most wanted criminal.

“We are not talking here about clearing his name but for him to pay for all the offenses he committed,” Comendador told reporters in a press conference yesterday.

And if Diaz was serious about offering to help police, “He has to specify what his offenses were. Has he killed people? Did he peddle drugs? And if he did sell drugs, how many kilos?” Comendador dared adding that Diaz should execute an extra-judicial confession to make his admissions formal.

“Crimes are not like clothes which will be clean once you wash them. Time will never wash away crime. He (Diaz) has committed crimes and they won’t just be washed away,” he added.

NO RECORD

Based on records of the PRO-7, Diaz, who police lists as one of the top 10 drug personalities in Central Visayas and who himself confessed to a life of crime in that radio interview, does not have a single criminal complaint filed against him before the trial courts.

He also has no existing warrant for his arrest even after police seized more than P4 million worth of illegal drugs in a raid at his compound in Barangay Duljo-Fatima, Cebu City last September 2015.

Cases were filed against Diaz after that raid but the prosecutors’ office has yet to resolve them, Comendador explained to reporters.

He advised Diaz to surrender while there is still a good opportunity to do it.

“He better make it fast because the time draws near. He should buy a hand cuff and lock his arms with it,” said Comendador alluding to the forthcoming Duterte presidency.

Comendador believed Diaz presented himself to the media as a changed man since the latter has started to feel pressure from the series of anti-illegal drug operations, including one on Banacon Island, Getafe Bohol that killed suspected drug lord Rowen Secretaria and two alleged cohorts.

“He’s feeling the heat and the pressure,” he said.

If Diaz surrenders, Comendador assured him of his safety.

A LAWYER’S OPINION

Meanwhile, lawyer Gonzalo Malig-on, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu province chapter said Diaz’ admission and his act of seeking forgiveness from Cebuanos do not absolve Diaz of any liability.

On the contrary, his admissions may be used against him, Malig-on added.

“Dili man na magpa sabot nga ma-erase (ang liability). In fact, admission na of a crime (If you admit to a crime, that does not mean that your criminal liability is erased. In fact, that is an admission of a crime),” Malig-on told radio dyAB in an interview.

Malig-on said the challenge is now for the police to make use of Diaz’ public admission, prepare a strong case against him and make sure that he is sent to jail.

“Naa ra na sa police authorities ug ila pa bang charge-an (It will now be up to police authorities if they will use this to file a charge),” he said.

Over at the first district of Cebu province, where Diaz is believed to own several properties including a house in Minglanilla, officials welcomed reports of the drug dealer’s claim to stop his illegal drug trade.

Incoming Talisay Mayor Eduardo Gullas said that the firm anti-drug pronouncements of President elect Duterte are already working.

As long as drug lords keep their business away from Talisay City and the rest of the province then, “I have no quarrel with them,” said Gullas.

Among the first things Gullas plans to do when he assumes office by July 1 is to meet with all identified drug lords in Talisay to ask them to stop.

He said there is already a “panel” taking care of it.

“If they won’t go out of Talisay, then I will go hammers and tongs against them — the legal way, the constitutional way. I cannot shake off my being a lawyer,” he said.